Lucinda Sharp Director, FORTY SOUTH PUBLISHING Pty Ltd
Join us in celebrating with John Beswick the launch of his book …
TASMANIA’S Forgotten Frontier
A history of exploration, exploitation and settlement around Tasmania’s Far North-East Coast
To be launched by
Mr Kenneth von Bibra am
Scottsdale RSL, George Street, Scottsdale, Tasmania
2.00 p.m., Thursday, 27 April 2017
Afternoon tea will be served.
RSVP by 18 April by phone 6394 7690 or email [email protected]
Almost five years before the first British settlement on mainland Tasmania (in the Derwent estuary), sealers established semi-permanent settlements on the islands off the North-East Coast. The sealers exploited not only the seal population but also the indigenous tribes that had inhabited the northeastern coastal plains for thousands of years.
Following the decimation and ultimate removal of the native population, a string of isolated grazing establishments, along the coastline east of what is now Bridport, became the first settlements in this remote corner of the state. John Beswick recalls the exploits of Bass and Flinders, Captain Charles Bishop (founder of the Bass Strait sealing industry), Captain James Kelly and George Augustus Robinson. Significantly, he identifies and records in detail, for the first time, the settlers who braved the isolation to establish long term grazing ventures. These settlers and their families are the hitherto unrecognised pioneers of the true North-East. Amongst them are some well-known names of that era, and of later years…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Beswick is a sixth generation Tasmanian whose ancestors were pioneers in the state’s North and North-East. Following a career on the land at Derby, he was elected to the Tasmanian Parliament. During nineteen years of service he was a cabinet minister for thirteen years and Deputy Premier for four years. After retirement from politics, John wrote his first book, Brothers’ Home, the Story of Derby Tasmania, (published in 2003) and subsequently edited MacFarlane’s History of North East Tasmania (2007). In 2015 he was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to Parliament, social welfare, primary industries, local government and the community.
Tasmania’s Forgotten Frontier is the culmination of years of meticulous research motivated by a desire to fill a notable gap in the documented history of Tasmania, and to record for posterity the deeds of some of those who contributed significantly to the establishment and growth of the society we know in the twenty-first century.
